I recall Lucas or McCallum stating in the DVD extras for Episode I that they were worried the audience would notice that Jake Lloyd was about a year or so older and bigger in the balcony scene than he was in all the other Anakin footage shot for the film due to Lloyd experiencing a growth spurt at that time.

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I had thought the scene where he was older was in the podrace hangar or whatever it's called, though I could be wrong because I haven't watched those features in a while.

It was the nighttime blood test scene. Lucas was wondering if people would notice that Jake had experienced a growth spurt since his last scene in front of the cameras and I think he said something about Jake sitting down next to Liam Neeson being a big help in conveying the impression that no time had passed. Also, there wasn't much light shining on either actor so any differences in Jake's face and proportions were further masked.

Apparently it was a scene that George thought of and wanted to add to the movie, but didn't jump on it until the last possible minute and then he had to hurredly corral Liam, Jake and Pernilla to shoot it.

Y'know, having Padmé appear to a young Leia in visions would explain the apparent discrepancy between Leia's ROTJ dialogue and the fact that Padmé dies during childbirth. Having her reappear during Episode VII would make sense, in that context.

I think it would be great to have Portman reprise the role somehow - especially if it made Padmé's death less like she simply lost the will to live.

Agreed, and since she hadn't studied the Force and wasn't a Jedi she wouldn't have become a Force spirit after her physical death on the delivery table, so the only reasonable ways to bring her back within the context of the SW universe would be as a Force memory/impression or a holoprogram that educates Leia and Luke about their mother's life and history. I for one would enjoy seeing Natalie and Padmé again and have always hoped they'd find a way to bring her back into the films.

Yoda: "Through the Force, things you will see. Other places. The future...the past. Old friends long gone."

Yeah, it's certainly plausible that Leia, being Force-sensitive, might have had visions of her mother without being able to understand exactly what they were at the time. And, in the time of E7, having studied the Force, she might be able to call upon those visions at will.

I've had a strong feeling that both Ewan and Hayden will be in the new film as their Force spirits, so if Natalie makes a cameo that would bring pretty much every one of the main leads of the PT and OT together in one story and help connect many of the dots between the two previous trilogies.

Ever since Episode VII was first announced I've had this image in my head of Ewan returning to the Saga as Obi-Wan's Force ghost, but his spirit would first materialize as a CGI recreation of Alec Guinness, the way Luke always saw him years earlier. Then the Alec Guinness image would morph into Ewan McGregor with Obi-Wan saying something along the lines of: "This is how I looked when I was a younger man. When I was a Jedi in the prime of my life. When your father and I were still friends."

I think they'll try to insert Alec Guinness into the film if they can, even if he's nothing more than an image created from scratch on a computer. Watching Guinness morph into McGregor would make some fans mad but others happy and, like you said, reinforce the concept that a Force ghost can decide how they want to appear to a living person.

I've been thinking they could even introduce a character ( it would have to be a long-lived one ) who supposedly lived through the Clone Wars and even interacted with Anakin and Obi-Wan in some incident. Then you could have a full-on flashback with the prequel actors reprising their roles in the flesh in a CW battle of some kind.

It was the nighttime blood test scene. Lucas was wondering if people would notice that Jake had experienced a growth spurt since his last scene in front of the cameras and I think he said something about Jake sitting down next to Liam Neeson being a big help in conveying the impression that no time had passed. Also, there wasn't much light shining on either actor so any differences in Jake's face and proportions were further masked.

Apparently it was a scene that George thought of and wanted to add to the movie, but didn't jump on it until the last possible minute and then he had to hurredly corral Liam, Jake and Pernilla to shoot it.

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I noticed there was something unusual about Jake's face, but I didn't know that that was the explanation. I appreciate it! I really like that scene too, especially when Anakin says that he wants to be the first person "to see them all", i.e. visit all the stars in the sky.

Ever since Episode VII was first announced I've had this image in my head of Ewan returning to the Saga as Obi-Wan's Force ghost, but his spirit would first materialize as a CGI recreation of Alec Guinness, the way Luke always saw him years earlier. Then the Alec Guinness image would morph into Ewan McGregor with Obi-Wan saying something along the lines of: "This is how I looked when I was a younger man. When I was a Jedi in the prime of my life. When your father and I were still friends."

At this point I find it really hard to be excited because of this.
All my heroes are old by now, I've never even cared about Han's and Leia's kids in the novels and Mara Jade won't be in this movie either.
I know, they can tell a completely new story but why not just develop a new franchise then?

And don't forget, there's been the longstanding talk that Samuel Jackson might find some way of getting involved. He was one of the first celebs and SW veterans to publicly speak out after the announcement of the new films and even though he joked that he, Ewan and Mark Hamill probably won't get asked we all know that Mark is returning as Luke and there's a very strong chance that McGregor will reprise Obi-Wan in some form or another.

If Sam Jackson really, really wants to take part in Episode VII it'd be very hard for J.J. Abrams and Lucasfilm to get away with saying no. A one-handed old man living in exile or a holorecording, Sam will come back if he can find a way.

I like Samuel L. Jackson but he was fucking awful in the prequels. It might have been down to George Lucas' piss poor way of actually directing actors but man... all he did was rolling his eyes and opening them really wide.
I don't think I want to ever again see him in a Star Wars movie.

A lot of that was probably Lucas. I like George Lucas a lot and love and respect what he's created over the past four decades, but that man would have trouble directing traffic in a small town.

He had Samuel L. Jackson and Natalie Portman at his disposal and could barely get anything out of them much of the time. Thankfully Ian McDiarmid skillfully and masterfully rose above and beyond George's direction and instructions.